Hill of Crosses

Hill of Crosses at Siauliai, Northern Lithuania

This is a site of pilgrimage about 8 miles north of the city of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania.   The Hill of Crosses has about 100 000 crosses, with the first crosses being erected here by the next-of-kin of the rebels that fell in the 1831 rebellion. The Hill of Crosses is a historical architectural monument, it is a unique composition of folk art. It attracts many pilgrims with its peace, spirituality, authenticity and sacred nature. Even more crosses appeared after the rebellion in 1863. At that time the traditions of visiting and erecting crosses on the hill of crosses were being formed. This place was visited by Pope John Paul II on September 9, 1993. 

In 2000 a Franciscan hermitage was opened nearby. Over the centuries, not only crosses, but giant crucifixes, carvings of Lithuanian patriots, statues of the Virgin Mary and thousands of tiny effigies and rosaries have been brought here by Catholic pilgrims. The exact number of crosses is unknown, but estimates put it at about 55,000 in 1990 and 100,000 in 2006.

A woman placing a cross among the 100,000 other crosses